1950 Suburban 5.7 Hemi project

[Dave72dt]

I generally stop at 600 wet on my projects and this last one I stopped at 500 dry, color has a of metallic and pearl in it and can't find any sand scratches showing in it. You must do a fair amount of painting. Do you have any problems with paint adhesion at 1000 grit? I'm always looking at methods for improvement in my work.

[Don Colliau]

This is all on the advise of my body guy. He did say I could probably get by with 800 wet. When I did my COE I just used 320 dry and it came out really nice.

[Dave72dt]

Thanks Don.  Will you be doing the final color yourself? BC/CC?

[wolfy]

Love all the pics.  Thanks again.  And yes, you are a pro!  Both in your work and literally.  You have paying customers!

[Don Colliau]

Thanks Don.  Will you be doing the final color yourself? BC/CC?

I won't spray the final color. I have a young guy with better eyes that wants to do the paint.

[Don Colliau]

Love all the pics.  Thanks again.  And yes, you are a pro!  Both in your work and literally.  You have paying customers!

Paying customers out of necessity.

[fstfish66]

Its been really cold here in Michigan so I used up some energy polishing this grille. I still wish I could find a plater to tackle this project. Everyone I talk too seems to think these are riveted together.  Not the case. All spot welds and a bunch of them.

pauls chrome in  penna,,,exellent work,plate any thing you want,even your credit card,,,,warrantied as long as you own it

[LODI3QTR]

There Stainless no need for plating. At least the Grill on my '50 wagon is.....

Edited March 10, 2016 by LODI3QTR

[Don Colliau]

Some got a flash plating and mine is one of them!

[LODI3QTR]

I did not know that Don.

[Don Colliau]

I had this grille to a plater polisher and he tried polishing. He asked me what the coating was on the grille.

[LODI3QTR]

Have you put a magnet to the grill?

[Don Colliau]

Have you put a magnet to the grill?

Not magnetic. Is chrome plated.

[DonaldSmith]

Some stainless steel alloys are non-magnetic, some are.

[Plymouthy Adams]

low grade stainless is magnetic...stainless steel is just a generic term for steel containing a minimum of chromium

 

learn more here..    http://chemistry.about.com/cs/metalsandalloys/a/aa071201a.htm  

[LODI3QTR]

Are there any updates to the Wagon Don?

Edited September 21, 2016 by LODI3QTR

[DocProc]

I just read this entire thread over my morning cup of coffee... Amazing work Don.

 

Update please!

[chopt50wgn]

I took my grille to a buddy who does polishing. He told me that to do a good job it should be taken apart. I told him it was spot welded together and said to just take out the dings and ents, which he did. Then he scotchbrited the whole thing and I liked how it looked and even matched the bumper to the grille. This is my 50 Plymouth wagon.

[Don Colliau]

I saw your car at the Nats in Louisville. Looks really nice. I am at a point of getting my off for paint. I talked to a painter today who will take it and return it with color on it for $5500.00. It seems high but I am having trouble getting anybody to look at this. The shops all want to do collision repair for the fast buck. I had one other price of $7000.00 and I don't think that included material. So I expect to get a contract via email to sign and put a deposit on the job to lock in my spot.

Sorry I haven't updated this thread but I didn't have anything new to add.

[Dave72dt]

Actually, that's a very good price for all the work that  goes into a complete paint job.  Lots of nooks and crannies that are difficult to reach but are visible.  Blowing the car apart, perfecting the body, reassembly, setting gaps, all takes time and the price of the paint and chems keeps going up.

[William Davey]

When you find a color you like and then find the price is $1,200/gallon, then add the price of some filler, primer, sealer, sand paper, masking tape and paper, thinner, paint filters, etc, etc, hours and hours of labor to do it right, I'm surprised it's not closer to $10,000. 

[DJ194950]

$1200 per gallon.??

Does it have ground gold for the metal flake?

Most cars would never get a repaint if Normal colors are chosen at those kind of prices!

DJ

[1FSTRYD]

Most good paint jobs in my area cost between $8-10000.  Materials range any where from $1200-3000 depending on what brand of paints and color. Friend of mine pd 8500 to paint his Ford and it was just a basic blue and car was pretty straight

[Dave72dt]

Some of the newer colors, especially the new reds with all the glitter are very pricey and more and more of them are tri coats.  GM's got a rally nice red that prices out in the $180/ pint price range.  Seems they can only be mixed in the premium lines to get accurate  color matches and they suggest spray outs of the tricoat to determine number of coats needed to match.

 

Lots of nice colors that don't cost that much and since most of these cars/ trucks came with a solid colors and likely be an overall instead of as panel match, most can be mixed in a more economical line of paint.

[DJ194950]

I can agree that a real pro paint ob as you described with gaps, panel alignments,some body work  get to big $$.

A real premium job from a pro around here in central Ca. with No major body work will run at a low of $7000. A friend priced a black cherry paint job of two older trucks (a 58 and 64) not too long back. Scared him as the trucks may not even be worth the price of paint ( at the $7000 price) plus the base price of the trucks as an investment.

 

Paint it your self as almost everyone here does anyway.!

Use paints from summit racing/eastwood.com/ tractor supply at less than $100 per gal.

DJ